Portable biometric monitoring devices and methods of operating same

ABSTRACT

The present inventions, in one aspect, are directed to portable biometric monitoring device including a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the user&#39;s body, at least one band to secure the monitoring device to the user, a physiological sensor, disposed in the housing, to generate data which is representative of a physiological condition of the user data. The physiological sensor may include a light source to generate and output light having at least a first wavelength, and a photodetector to detect scattered light (e.g., from the user). A light pipe is disposed in the housing and optically coupled to the light source directs/transmits light therefrom along a predetermined path to an outer surface of the housing. Processing circuitry calculates a heart rate of the user using data which is representative of the scattered light.

RELATED APPLICATION

This non-provisional application claims priority to (i) U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 61/662,961, entitled “Wireless Personal BiometricsMonitor”, filed Jun. 22, 2012, and (ii) U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61/752,826, entitled “Portable Monitoring Devices and Methodsof Operating Same”, filed Jan. 15, 2013; the contents of theseProvisional Applications are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

INTRODUCTION

The present inventions relate to a biometric monitoring device andmethods and techniques to collect one or more types of physiologicaland/or environmental data from embedded or resident sensors and/orexternal devices and communicates or relays such information to otherdevices or other internet-viewable sources. (See, for example, FIG. 1).While the user is wearing or manipulating the biometric monitoringdevice, through one or a plurality of sensors, the device may detect oneor many of physiological metrics including, but not limited to, theuser's heart rate.

The device may have a user interface directly on the device thatindicates the state of one or more of the data types available and/orbeing tracked/acquired. The user interface may also be used to displaydata from other devices or Internet sources.

The device may implement wireless communications so that when the userand device comes within range of a wireless base station or accesspoint, the stored data automatically uploads to an internet viewablesource such as a website.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the course of the detailed description to follow, reference will bemade to the attached drawings. These drawings show different aspects ofthe present inventions and, where appropriate, reference numeralsillustrating like structures, components, materials and/or elements indifferent figures are labeled similarly. The various embodimentsdisclosed herein are illustrated by way of example, and not by way oflimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in whichlike reference numerals refer to the same and/or similarstructures/components/features/elements. It is understood that variouscombinations of the structures, components, features and/or elements,other than those specifically shown, are contemplated and are within thescope of the present inventions.

Moreover, there are many inventions described and illustrated herein.The present inventions are neither limited to any single aspect norembodiment thereof, nor to any combinations and/or permutations of suchaspects and/or embodiments. Moreover, each of the aspects of the presentinventions, and/or embodiments thereof, may be employed alone or incombination with one or more of the other aspects of the presentinventions and/or embodiments thereof. For the sake of brevity, certainpermutations and combinations are not discussed and/or illustratedseparately herein.

The various embodiments disclosed herein are illustrated by way ofexample, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer tosimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary portable monitoring device which enablesuser interaction via a user interface, wherein the portable monitoringdevice may have a user interface, processor, biometric sensor(s),memory, environmental sensor(s) and/or a wireless transceiver which maycommunicate with an external device (for example, a client and/orserver);

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary portable biometric monitoring devicewhich may be secured to the user through the use of a band; theexemplary portable biometric monitoring device may have a display,button(s), electronics package, and/or a band or an attachment band;notably, the band or attachment band is employed to secure the portablebiometric monitoring device to the user, for example, an appendage ofthe user, for example, via hooks and loops (e.g., Velcro), a clasp,and/or a band having memory of its shape (e.g. through the use of, forexample, a spring metal band, elastic band, a “rubber” band, and/or awatch-like band);

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of the skin facing portion of the portablebiometric monitoring device of, for example, FIG. 2; notably, in thisembodiment, the portable monitoring device includes a sensor protrusionand recess for mating a charger and/or data transmission cable; notable,the protrusion may more firmly maintain the sensor in contact with theskin of the user (for example, predetermined or fixed relational contactwith the skin of the user);

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view (through the electronicspackage) of an exemplary portable biometric monitoring device;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross sectional view of a sensor protrusion of anexemplary portable biometric monitoring device; notably, two lightsources (e.g. LED's) may be located on one or more sides of thephotodetector (for example, either side or opposing sides of aphotodetector) to enable photoplethysmography (PPG) sensing whereinlight blocking material may be placed between the light sources and thephotodetector to prevent any light from the light sources from goingthrough the device body and being detected by the photodetector (in oneembodiment, the light sources and photodetector are placed on a flexiblePCB); a flexible transparent layer may be placed on the lower surface ofthe sensor protrusion to form a seal wherein the transparent layer mayprovide other functions such as preventing liquid from entering thedevice where the light sources or photodetectors are disposed or placed;notably, the transparent layer may be formed through in-mold labeling or“IML”;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross sectional view of a sensor protrusion of anexemplary portable biometric monitoring device; notably, the protrusionis similar to that illustrated in the exemplary portable biometricmonitoring device of FIG. 5; however, the light sources andphotodetector are placed on a flat and/or rigid PCB;

FIG. 7 illustrates another cross-sectional view of a PPG sensor, whereinin this embodiment, the PPG sensor does not include a protrusion;moreover, a gasket and/or a pressure sensitive adhesive may be employedto resist, inhibit and/or prevent liquid from entering the body of thedevice;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary geometry of a PPG light source andphotodetector wherein, in this embodiment, two light sources are placedon either side of a photodetector; notably, the lights sources andphotodetector may be disposed or located in a protrusion on the back ofa portable biometric monitoring device which may also operate as a smartwatch (the side which faces the skin of the user);

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor having a photodetector andtwo LED light sources which may be disposed or located in a portablebiometric monitoring device having a protrusion; notably, in thisembodiment, light pipes are optically connected the LED's andphotodetector to the surface of the user's skin, wherein, in operation,the light from the light sources scatters/reflects off of blood in thebody, some of which reaches the photodetector via the light pipes;notably, the light pipes preferentially direct or transmit light along apredetermined path, for example, defined by the geometry and/or materialof the light pipe;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary PPG detector having a protrusion withcurved sides to reduce and/or minimize any discomfort to the user duringoperation and/or to more firmly maintain the sensor in contact with theskin of the user (for example, predetermined or fixed relational contactwith the skin of the user); in this embodiment, the surface of lightpipes are connect the photodetector and LEDs to the user's skin and arecontoured to enhance and/or maximize light flux coupling between theLEDs and photodetectors to the light pipes; notably, the end of thelight pipes which face the user's skin may also contoured wherein thiscontour may provide focusing or defocusing to enhance and/or optimizethe PPG signal (for example, the contour may focus light to a certaindepth and location which coincides with an area where blood flow islikely to occur); in addition, the vertex of these foci overlap or arevery close together so that the photodetector may receive, for example,the maximum possible amount of scattered/reflected light;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary portable biometric monitoring devicehaving a band and optical sensors and light emitters disposed therein;

FIG. 12 illustrates a portable biometric monitoring device having adisplay and wristband; an optical PPG (e.g. heart rate) detectionsensors and/or emitters may be disposed or located on the side of thedevice; notably, in one embodiment, the sensors and/or emitters aredisposed or located in buttons mounted on the side of the device;

FIG. 13 illustrates a user who is inputting a user input by pressing theside of a portable biometric monitoring device wherein, in response, thedevice takes a heart rate measurement from a side mounted optical heartrate detection sensor; a display of the device may thereafter displaywhether or not the heart rate has been detected and/or display theuser's heart rate;

FIG. 14 illustrates functionality of a portable biometric monitoringdevice smart alarm feature wherein, in this embodiment, the monitoringdevice may be able to detect or may be in communication with a devicewhich can detect the sleep stage or state of a user (e.g. light or deepsleep); the user may set a window of time which they would like to beawoken (e.g. 6:15 am to 6:45 am); the smart alarm may be triggered bythe user going into a light sleep state during the alarm window;

FIG. 15 illustrates, in a flow diagram form, the operation of a portablebiometric monitoring device which changes how the device detects auser's heart rate based on how much movement the device is experiencing;in this embodiment, there is motion detected (e.g. through the use of anaccelerometer), the user may be considered active and high sampling rateheart rate detection may occur to reduce motion artifacts in the heartrate measurement; the data may be saved and/or displayed; notably, wherethe user is not moving, low sampling heart rate detection (which doesnot consume as much power) may be adequate to measure a heart rate;

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary portable monitoring device which has abicycle application (resident thereon) which may display speed and/orcadence among other metrics; the application may be activated wheneverthe monitoring device comes into proximity of a passive or active NFCtag, which may be attached to or disposed on the bicycle, for example,the bicycle handlebar(s), frame and/or pedal(s);

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor having a light source, lightdetector, ADC, processor, DAC/GPIOs, and light source intensity andon/off control;

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor which is similar to theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 17; in this embodiment, however, thesensor employs a sample and hold circuit as well as analog signalconditioning;

FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor which is similar to theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 17; in this embodiment, however, thesensor employs a sample and hold circuit (and, in one embodiment,oversamples the signals);

FIG. 20 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor having multiple switchablelight sources and detectors, light source intensity and on/off control,and signal conditioning circuitry

FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor which uses synchronousdetection; notably, in this embodiment, a demodulator is employed todetect/recover the signal;

FIG. 22 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor which is similar to theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 17; in this embodiment, however, thesensor employs a differential amplifier in the signal detection path;

FIG. 23 illustrates an exemplary PPG sensor having many of thefeatures/circuitry illustrated in FIG. 17-22;

FIG. 24 illustrates certain circuitry/elements of an exemplary portablebiometric monitoring device having a heart rate or PPG sensor, motionsensor, display, vibromotor/vibramotor, and communication circuitrywhich are connected to a processor;

FIG. 25 illustrates certain circuitry/elements of an exemplary portablebiometric monitoring device having a heart rate or PPG sensor, motionsensor, display, vibromotor/vibramotor, location sensor, altitudesensor, skin conductance/wet sensor and communication circuitry which isconnected to a processor;

FIG. 26 illustrates certain circuitry/elements of an exemplary portablemonitoring device having physiological sensors, environmental sensors,and/or location sensors connected to a processor;

FIG. 27 illustrates, in block diagram form, exemplary signal flow ofmotion signals and optical PPG signals which are employed to measure aheart rate of the user;

FIG. 28 illustrates, in block diagram form, exemplary signal flow ofmotion signals and optical PPG signals which are employed to measure aheart rate of the user;

FIG. 29 illustrates a sensor which has an analog connection to a sensorprocessor which, in turn, has a digital connection to an applicationprocessor;

FIG. 30 illustrates a sensor device which has one or multiple sensorsconnected to an application processor; and

FIG. 31 illustrates a sensor device which has one or multiple sensorsconnected to sensor processors which, in turn, are connected to anapplication processor.

Again, there are many inventions described and illustrated herein. Thepresent inventions are neither limited to any single aspect norembodiment thereof, nor to any combinations and/or permutations of suchaspects and/or embodiments. Each of the aspects of the presentinventions, and/or embodiments thereof, may be employed alone or incombination with one or more of the other aspects of the presentinventions and/or embodiments thereof. For the sake of brevity, many ofthose combinations and permutations are not discussed separately herein.

Moreover, many other aspects, inventions and embodiments, which may bedifferent from and/or similar to, the aspects, inventions andembodiments illustrated in the drawings, will be apparent from thedescription, illustrations and claims, which follow. In addition,although various features and attributes have been illustrated in thedrawings and/or are apparent in light thereof, it should be understoodthat such features and attributes, and advantages thereof, are notrequired whether in one, some or all of the embodiments of the presentinventions and, indeed, need not be present in any of the embodiments ofthe present inventions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

At the outset, it should be noted that there are many inventionsdescribed and illustrated herein. The present inventions are neitherlimited to any single aspect nor embodiment thereof, nor to anycombinations and/or permutations of such aspects and/or embodiments.Moreover, each of the aspects of the present inventions, and/orembodiments thereof, may be employed alone or in combination with one ormore of the other aspects of the present inventions and/or embodimentsthereof. For the sake of brevity, many of those permutations andcombinations will not be discussed separately herein.

Further, in the course of describing and illustrating the presentinventions, various circuitry, architectures, structures, components,functions and/or elements, as well as combinations and/or permutationsthereof, are set forth. It should be understood that circuitry,architectures, structures, components, functions and/or elements otherthan those specifically described and illustrated, are contemplated andare within the scope of the present inventions, as well as combinationsand/or permutations thereof.

Physiological Sensors

The portable biometric monitoring device of the present inventions mayuse one, some or all of the following sensors to acquire physiologicaldata, including the physiological data outlined in the table below. Allcombinations and permutations of physiological sensors and/orphysiological data are intended to fall within the scope of the presentinventions. The portable biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may include but is not limited to the types one, some or allof sensors specified below to acquire the corresponding physiologicaldata; indeed, other type(s) of sensors may be employed to acquire thecorresponding physiological data, which are intended to fall within thescope of the present inventions. Additionally, the device may derive thephysiological data from the corresponding sensor output data, but is notlimited to the number or types of physiological data that it couldderive from said sensor.

Physiological Sensors Physiological data acquired Optical ReflectometerHeart Rate, Heart Rate Variability Potential embodiments: SpO2(Saturation of Peripheral Light emitter and receiver Oxygen) Multi orsingle LED and photo Respiration diode arrangement Stress Wavelengthtuned for specific Blood pressure physiological signals ArterialStiffness Synchronous detection/amplitude Blood glucose levelsmodulation Blood volume Motion Detector Heart rate recovery Potentialembodiments: Cardiac health Inertial, Gyro or Accelerometer Activitylevel detection GPS Sitting/standing detection Skin Temp Fall detectionEMG Stress EKG Muscle tension Potential Embodiments: Heart Rate, HeartRate Variability, 1 lead Heart Rate Recovery 2 lead Stress MagnetometerCardiac health Laser Doppler Activity level based on rotation PowerMeter Blood flow Ultra Sound Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, AudioHeart Rate Recovery Strain gauge Laugh detection Potential embodiment:Respiration In a wrist band Respiration type- snoring, breathing, Wetsensor breathing problems Potential embodiment: User's voice galvanicskin response Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability Stress Stress Swimmingdetection Shower detection

In one exemplary embodiment, the portable biometric monitoring deviceincludes an optical sensor to detect, sense, sample and/or generate datathat may be used to determine information representative of, forexample, stress (or level thereof), blood pressure and/or heart rate ofa user. (See, for example, FIGS. 2-7 and 17-23). In this embodiment, thebiometric monitoring device includes an optical sensor having one ormore light sources (LED, laser, etc.) to emit or output light into theuser's body and/or light detectors (photodiodes, phototransistors, etc.)to sample, measure and/or detect a response or reflection and providedata used to determine data which is representative of stress (or levelthereof), blood pressure and/or heart rate of a user (e.g., usingphotoplethysmography—“PPG”).

In one exemplary embodiment, a user's heart rate measurement may betriggered by criteria determined by one or more sensors (or processingcircuitry connected to them). For instance, when data from the motionsensor(s) indicates a period of stillness or little motion, thebiometric monitoring device may trigger, acquire and/or obtain a heartrate measurement or data. (See, for example, FIGS. 15, 24 and 25). Inone embodiment, when the motion sensor(s) indicate user activity ormotion (for example, motion that is not suitable or optimum to trigger,acquire and/or obtain desired heart rate measurement or data (forexample, data used to determine a user's resting heart rate), thebiometric monitoring device and/or the sensor(s) employed to acquireand/or obtain desired heart rate measurement or data may be placed orremain in a low power state. Notably, measurements taken during motionmay be less reliable and may be corrupted by motion artifact (forexample, relative motion between the sensors and the user).

In another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may employ data indicative of user activity or motion (forexample, from one or more motion sensors) to adjust or modifycharacteristics of triggering, acquiring and/or obtaining desired heartrate measurement or data (for example, to improve robustness to motionartifact). For instance, data indicative of user activity or motion maybe employed to adjust or modify the sampling rate and/or resolution modeof sensors which acquire heart rate data (for example, where the amountof user motion exceeds a certain threshold, the biometric monitoringdevice may increase the sampling rate and/or increase the samplingresolution mode of sensors employed to acquire heart rate measurement ordata). Moreover, the biometric monitoring device may adjust or modifythe sampling rate and/or resolution mode of the motion sensor(s) duringsuch periods of user activity or motion (for example, periods where theamount of user motion exceeds a certain threshold). In this way, whenthe biometric monitoring device determines or detects such user activityor motion, the motion sensor(s) may be placed into a higher samplingrate and/or higher sampling resolution mode to, for example, enable moreaccurate adaptive filtering on the heart rate signal. (See, for example,FIG. 15).

Notably, where the biometric monitoring device employs opticaltechniques to acquire heart rate measurements or data (e.g.,photoplethysmography), a motion signal may be employed to determine orestablish a particular approach or technique to data acquisition ormeasurement (e.g., synchronous detection rather than a non-amplitudemodulated approach or technique) and/or analysis thereof. (See, forexample, FIG. 21). In this way, the data which is indicative of theamount of user motion or activity establishes or adjusts the type ortechnique of data acquisition or measurement by the optical heart ratedata acquisition sensors.

For example, in one preferred embodiment, the biometric monitoringdevice and technique of the present inventions may adjust and/or reducethe sampling rate of optical heart rate sampling when the motiondetector circuitry detects or determines that the user's motion is belowa threshold (for example, the biometric monitoring device determines theuser is sedentary or asleep). (See, for example, FIG. 15). In this way,the biometric monitoring device may control its power consumption (forexample, reduce power consumption by reducing the sampling rate—forinstance, the biometric monitoring device may sample the heart rate (viathe heart rate sensor) once every 10 minutes, or 10 seconds out of every1 minute. Notably, the biometric monitoring device may, in additionthereto or in lieu thereof, control power consumption via controllingdata processing circuitry analysis and/or data analysis techniques inaccordance with motion detection. As such, the motion of the user mayimpact the heart rate data acquisition parameters and/or data analysisor processing thereof.

In yet another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may employsensors to calculate heart rate variability when the device determinesthe user to be, for example, sedentary or asleep. Here, the device mayoperate the sensors in a higher-rate sampling mode (relative tonon-sedentary periods or periods of user activity that exceed apredetermined threshold) to calculate heart rate variability. Thebiometric monitoring device (or external device) may employ heart ratevariability as an indicator of cardiac health or stress.

Indeed, in a preferred embodiment, the biometric monitoring devicemeasures and/or determines the user's stress level and/or cardiac healthwhen the user is sedentary and/or asleep (for example, as detectedand/or determined (for example, automatically) by the biometricmonitoring device). The biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may determine the user's stress level, health state (e.g.,risk, onset, or progression of fever or cold) and/or cardiac healthusing sensor data which is indicative of the heart rate variability,galvanic skin response, skin temperature, body temperature and/or heartrate. In this way, processing circuitry of the biometric monitoringdevice may determine and/or track the user's “baseline” stress levelsover time and/or cardiac “health” over time. In another embodiment, thedevice measures a physiologic parameter of the user during one or moreperiods where the user is motionless (or the user's motion is below apredetermined threshold), sitting, lying down, asleep, or in aparticular sleep stage (e.g., deep sleep). Such data may also beemployed as a “baseline” for stress-related parameters, health-relatedparameters (e.g., risk or onset of fever or cold), cardiac health, heartrate variability, galvanic skin response, skin temperature, bodytemperature and/or heart rate.

Notably, in one embodiment, the biometric monitoring device mayautomatically detect or determine when the user is attempting to go tosleep, entering sleep, is asleep and/or is awoken from a period ofsleep. In this embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may employphysiological sensors to acquire physiological data (of the type and inthe manner as described herein) wherein the data processing circuitrycorrelates a combination of heart rate, heart rate variability,respiration rate, galvanic skin response, motion, and/or skin and/orbody temperature sensing to detect or determine if the user isattempting to go to sleep, entering sleep, is asleep and/or is awokenfrom a period of sleep. In response, the biometric monitoring devicemay, for example, acquire physiological data and/or determinephysiological conditions of the user (of the type and in the manner asdescribed herein). For example, a decrease or cessation of user motioncombined with a reduction in user heart rate and/or a change in heartrate variability may indicate that the user has fallen asleep.Subsequent changes in heart rate variability and galvanic skin responsemay be used to determine transitions of the user's sleep state and/orbetween two or more stages of sleep (for example, into lighter and/ordeeper stages of sleep). Motion by the user and/or an elevated heartrate and/or a change in heart rate variability may be used to determinethat the user has awoken.

In one embodiment, the biometric monitoring device is one component of asystem for monitoring sleep, where the system comprises a secondarydevice capable of communicating with the biometric monitoring device andadapted to be placed near the sleeper (e.g., an alarm clock). Thesecondary device may have a shape and mechanical and/or magneticinterface to accept the biometric monitoring device for safe keeping,communication, and/or charging. Notably, the communication between thebiometric monitoring device and the secondary device may be providedthrough wireless communication techniques/methods and protocols such asBluetooth, Bluetooth 4.0, RFID, NFC, or WLAN. The secondary device maycomprise sensors to assist in sleep or environmental monitoring such as,for example, sensors that measure ambient light, noise and/or sound(e.g., to detect snoring), temperature, humidity, and air quality(pollen, dust, CO2, etc.). In one embodiment, the secondary device maycommunicate with an external service such as www.fitbit.com or server(e.g., personal computer). Communication may be achieved through wired(e.g., Ethernet, USB) or wireless (e.g., WLAN, Bluetooth, RFID, NFC,cellular) circuitry and protocols to transfer data to and/or from thesecondary device. The secondary device may also act as a relay totransfer data to and/or from the biometric monitoring device to anexternal service such as www.fitbit.com or other service (e.g., news,social network updates, email, calendar notifications), or server (e.g.,personal computer, mobile phone, tablet). Calculation of the user'ssleep data may be executed on one or both devices or an external service(e.g., a cloud server) using data from one or both devices.

The secondary device may be equipped with a display to output dataobtained by the secondary device or data transferred to it by thebiometric monitoring device, the external service, or a combination ofdata from the biometric monitoring device, the secondary device, and/orthe external service. For example, the secondary device may display dataindicative of the user's heart rate, total steps for the day, activityand/or sleep goal achievement, the day's weather (measured by thesecondary device or reported for a location by an external service),etc. In another example, the secondary device may display data relatedto the ranking of the user relative to other users, such as, in thecontext of user activity (for example, total weekly step count). In yetanother embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may be equipped witha display to display data obtained by the biometric monitoring device,the secondary device, the external service, or a combination of thethree sources. In embodiments where the first device is equipped with awakeup alarm (e.g., vibromotor/vibramotor, speaker), the secondarydevice may act as a backup alarm (e.g., using an audio speaker). Thesecondary device may also have an interface (e.g., display and buttonsor touch screen) to create, delete, modify, or enable alarms on thefirst and/or the secondary device.

In another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may automaticallydetect or determine whether it is or is not attached to, disposed onand/or being worn by the user. In response to detecting or determiningthe biometric monitoring device is not attached to, disposed on and/orbeing worn by the user, the biometric monitoring device (or selectedportions thereof) may implement or be placed in a low power mode ofoperation—for example, the optical heart rate sensor and/or circuitrymay be placed in an off or disabled state or a lower power or sleepmode). For example, in one embodiment, the biometric monitoring deviceincludes one or more light detectors (photodiodes, phototransistors,etc.) wherein, if at a given light intensity setting, one or more lightdetectors provides a low return signal, the biometric monitoring devicemay interpret the data is indicative of the device not being worn. Uponsuch a determination, the device may reduce its power consumption—forexample, “disable” or adjust the operating conditions of the stressand/or heart rate detection sensors and/or circuitry (for example,reduce duty cycle of or disable the light source(s) and/or detector(s),and/or disable or attenuate associated circuitry or portions thereof).In addition, the biometric monitoring device may periodically determine(e.g., once per second) if the operating conditions of the stress and/orheart rate detection sensors and/or associated circuitry should berestored to a normal operating condition (for example, light source(s),detector(s) and/or associated circuitry should return to a normaloperating mode for heart rate detection). In another embodiment, thebiometric monitoring device restores the operating conditions of thestress and/or heart rate detection sensors and/or associated circuitryupon detection of a triggerable event—for example, upon detecting motionof the device (for example, based on data from one or more motionsensor(s)) and/or detecting a user input via the user interface (forexample, a tap, bump or swipe). In a related embodiment, the biometricmonitoring device may, for power saving purposes, reduce its rate ofheart rate measurement collection to, for instance, one measurement perminute whilst the user is not highly active. In one embodiment, the usermay put the device into a mode of operation to generate measurements ondemand or at a faster rate (e.g., once per second), for instance, viathe interface—such as, by pushing a button.

In one embodiment, the optical sensors (sources and/or detectors) may bedisposed on an interior or skin side of the biometric monitoring device(i.e., a side whereby the surface of the device contacts, touches and/orfaces the skin of the user (hereinafter “skin side”). (See, for example,FIGS. 2-7). In another embodiment, the optical sensors may be disposedon one or more sides of the device, including the skin side and one ormore sides of the device that face or are exposed to the ambientenvironment (environmental side). (See, for example, FIGS. 11-13).Notably, the data from such optical sensors may be representative ofphysiological data and/or environmental data. Indeed, in one embodiment,the optical sensors provide, acquire and/or detect information frommultiple sides of the biometric monitoring device whether or not thesensors are disposed on one or more of the multiple sides. For example,the optical sensors may obtain data related to the ambient lightconditions of the environment.

Where optical sensors are disposed or arranged on the skin side of thebiometric monitoring device, in operation, a light source emits lightupon the skin of the user and, in response, a light detector samples,acquires and/or detects a response or scattered/reflected light from theskin (and/or from inside the body). The one or more sources anddetectors may be arranged in an array or pattern that enhances oroptimizes the SNR and/or reduces or minimizes power consumption by lightsources and detectors. These optical detectors sample, acquire and/ordetect physiological data which may then be processed or analyzed (forexample, by resident processing circuitry) to obtain data which isrepresentative of, for example, a user's heart rate, respiration, heartrate variability, oxygen saturation (SpO2), blood volume, blood glucose,skin moisture and/or skin pigmentation level.

The source(s) may emit light having one or more wavelengths which arespecific or directed to a type of physiological data to be collected.The optical detectors may sample, measure and/or detect one or morewavelengths that are also specific or directed to a type ofphysiological data to be collected and physiological parameter (of theuser) to be assessed or determined. For instance, in one embodiment, alight source emitting light having a wavelength in the green spectrum(for example, an LED that emits light having wavelengths correspondingto the green spectrum) and photodiode positioned to sample, measureand/or detect a response or reflection may provide data used todetermine or detect heart rate. In contrast, a light source emittinglight having a wavelength in the red spectrum (for example, an LED thatemits light having wavelengths corresponding to the red spectrum) and alight source emitting light having a wavelength in the infrared spectrum(for example, an LED that emits light having wavelengths correspondingto the IR spectrum) and photodiode positioned to sample, measure and/ordetect a response or reflection may provide data used to determine ordetect SpO2.

Indeed, in one embodiment, the color or wavelength of the light emittedby the LED (or set of LEDs) may be modified, adjusted and/or controlledin accordance with a predetermined type of physiological data beingacquired or conditions of operation. Here, the wavelength of the lightemitted by the LED is adjusted and/or controlled to optimize and/orenhance the “quality” of the physiological data obtained and/or sampledby the detector. For example, the color of the light emitted by the LEDmay be switched from infrared to green when the user's skin temperatureor the ambient temperature is cool in order to enhance the signalcorresponding to cardiac activity. (See, for example, FIG. 20).

The biometric monitoring device, in one embodiment, includes a window(for example, a visually opaque window) in the housing to facilitateoptical transmission between the optical sensors and the user. Here, thewindow may permit light (for example, a substantial portion of aselected wavelength) to be emitted by, for example, one or more LEDs,onto the skin of the user and a response or reflection to pass into thehousing to be sampled, measured and/or detected by, for example, one ormore photodiodes. In one embodiment, the circuitry related to emittingand receiving light may be disposed in the interior of the devicehousing and underneath a plastic or glass layer (for example, paintedwith infrared ink) or an infrared lens which permits infrared light topass but not light in the human visual spectrum. In this way, the lighttransmission is invisible to the human eye.

The biometric monitoring device, in one embodiment, may employ lightpipes or other light transmissive structures. (See, for example, FIGS.8-10). In this regard, in one embodiment, light is directed from thelight source to the skin of the user through light pipes or other lighttransmissive structures. Scattered or reflected light from the user'sbody may be directed back to and detected by the optical circuitrythrough the same or similar structures. Indeed, the transmissivestructures may employ a material and/or optical design to facilitate lowlight loss (for example, a lens) thereby improving SNR of the photodetector and/or reducing power consumption of the light emitter(s)and/or light detector(s). In one embodiment, the light pipes or otherlight transmissive structures may include a material that selectivelytransmits light having one or more specific or predetermined wavelengthswith higher efficiency than others, thereby acting as a bandpass filter.This bandpass filter may be tuned to improve the signal of a specificphysiological data type. For example, in one embodiment, anIn-Mold-Labeling or “IML” light transmissive structure may beimplemented wherein the structure uses a material with predetermined ordesired optical characteristics to create a specific bandpasscharacteristic, for example, to pass infrared light with greaterefficiency than light of other wavelengths (for example, light having awavelength in human visible spectrum).

In another embodiment, a biometric monitoring device may employ lighttransmissive structure having an optically opaque portion (includingcertain optical properties) and an optically transparent portion(including optical properties different from the optically opaqueportion). Such a structure may be provided via a double-shot or two stepmolding process wherein optically opaque material is injected andoptically transparent material is injected. A biometric monitoringdevice implementing such a light transmissive structure may includedifferent transmissive properties for different wavelengths depending onthe direction of light travel through the structure. For example, in oneembodiment, the optically opaque material may include a property ofbeing reflective to a specific wavelength range so as to moreefficiently transport light from the light emitter(s) and from theuser's body back to and detected by the detector (which may be of adifferent wavelength(s) relative to the wavelength(s) of the emittedlight).

In another embodiment which implements light transmissive structures(for example, structures created or formed through IML), such structuresmay include a mask consisting of an opaque material which limits theaperture of one, some or all of the light source(s) and/or detector(s).In this way, the light transmissive structures selectively “define” apreferential volume of the body that light is emitted into and/ordetected from. Notably, other mask configurations may be employed orimplemented in connection with the inventions described and/orillustrated herein; all such mask configurations to, for example,improve the photoplethysmography signal, and which are implemented inconnection with the inventions described and/or illustrated herein, areintended to fall within the scope of the present inventions.

In any of the light transmissive structures described herein, thesurface of the optics or device body may include a hard coat paint, hardcoat dip, or optical coatings (such as anti-reflection), scratchresistance, anti-fog, and/or wavelength band block (such as ultravioletlight blocking). Such characteristics or materials may improve theoperation, accuracy and/or longevity of the biometric monitoring device.

In one embodiment, the biometric monitoring device includes a concave orconvex shape, on the skin side of the device, to focus light towards aspecific volume at a specific depth in the skin and increase theefficiency of light collected from that point into the photodetector.(See, for example, FIGS. 8-10). Where such a biometric monitoring devicealso employs light pipes to selectively and controllably route light, itmay be advantageous to shape the end of the light pipe with a degree ofcylindricity (for example, rather than radially symmetric). Such aconfiguration may improve the SNR by increasing the efficiency of lighttransferred from the emitter onto or into the skin of the user whiledecreasing “stray” light from being detected or collected by thephotodetector. In this way, the signal sampled, measured and/or detectedby the photodetector consists less of stray light and more of the user'sresponse to such emitted light (signal or data that is representative ofthe response to the emitted light).

In one embodiment, the components of the optical sensor are positionedon the skin side of the device and arranged or positioned to reduce orminimize the distance between (i) the light source(s) and/or associateddetector(s) and (ii) the skin of the user. (See, for example, FIG. 5).Such a configuration may improve the efficiency of light flux couplingbetween the components of the optical sensor and the user's body. Forexample, in one embodiment, the light source(s) and/or associateddetector(s) are disposed on a flexible or pliable substrate whichfacilitates the skin side of the device to conform (for example, withoutadditional processing) or be capable of being shaped (or compliant) toconform to the shape of the user's body part (for example, wrist, armankle and/or leg) to which the biometric monitoring device is coupled orattached during normal operation so that the light source(s) and/orassociated detector(s) are/is close to the skin of the user (i.e., withlittle to no gap between the skin side of the device and the juxtaposedsurface of the skin of the user). (See, FIG. 11). In one embodiment, thelight source(s) and/or associated detector(s) are disposed on a FlatFlex Cable or “FFC” or flexible PCB. In this embodiment, the flexible orpliable substrate (for example, FFC or flexible PCB) could connect to asecond substrate (for example, PCB) within the device having othercomponents disposed thereon (for example, the data processingcircuitry). Optical components of differing heights may be mounted todifferent “fingers” of flexible substrate and pressed or secured to thehousing surface such that the optical components are flush to thehousing surface. In one embodiment, the second substrate may be arelative inflexible or non-pliable substrate, fixed within the device,having other circuitry and components (passive and/or active) disposedthereon.

The biometric monitoring device is adapted (for example, includes a sizeand shape) to be worn or carried on the body of a user (for example,arm, wrist, leg and/or ankle). In preferred embodiments including theoptical heart rate monitor, the device may be a wrist-worn orarm-mounted accessory such as a watch or bracelet. (See, for example,FIGS. 2-13). In one embodiment, optical elements of the optical heartrate monitor are disposed or located on the interior or skin side of thebiometric monitoring device, for example, facing the top of the wrist(i.e., the optical heart rate monitor is juxtaposed the wrist) when thedevice is wrist mounted. (See, for example, FIGS. 2-7).

In another embodiment, the optical heart rate monitor is disposed orlocated on one or more external or environmental side surfaces of thebiometric monitoring device. (See, for example, FIGS. 12 and 13). Inthis embodiment, the user may touch an optical window (behind whichoptical elements of the optical heart rate monitor are located) with afinger on the opposing hand to initiate a heart rate measurement (and/orother metrics related to heart rate such as heart rate variability)and/or collect data which may be used to determine the user's heart rate(and/or other metrics related to heart rate). (See, for example, FIG.12). In one embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may trigger orinitiate the measurement(s) by detecting a (sudden) drop in incidentlight on the photodiode—for example, when the user's finger is placedover the optical window. In addition thereto, or in lieu thereof, aheart rate measurement (or other such metric) may be trigged by anIR-based proximity detector and/or capacitive touch/proximity detector(which may be separate from other detectors). Such IR-based proximitydetector and/or capacitive touch/proximity detector may be disposed inor on and/or functionally, electrically and/or physically coupled to theoptical window to detect or determine the presence of, for example, theuser's finger.

In yet another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may includeone or more buttons which, when depressed, triggers or initiates heartrate measurement (and/or other metrics related to heart rate). Thebutton(s) may be disposed in close proximity of the optical window tofacilitate the user pressing the button while the finger is disposed onthe optical window. (See, for example, FIG. 13). In one embodiment, theoptical window may be embedded in a push button. Thus, when the userpresses the button(s), it could trigger a measurement via the user'sfinger which engages and depresses the button. Indeed, the button may begiven a shape and/or resistance to pressing that enhances or optimizes apressure profile against the finger to provide high SNR duringmeasurement or data acquisition. In other embodiments (not illustrated),the biometric monitoring device may take the form of a clip, smoothobject, pendant, anklet, belt, etc. that is adapted to be worn on thebody, clipped or mounted to an article of clothing, deposited inclothing (e.g., pocket), or deposited in an accessory (e.g., handbag).

In one specific embodiment, the biometric monitoring device includes aprotrusion on the skin or interior side of the device. (See, FIGS.2-11). When coupled to the user, the protrusion engages the skin withmore force than the surrounding device body. In this embodiment, anoptical window or light transmissive structure (both of which arediscussed in detail above) may form or be incorporated in a portion ofthe protrusion. The light emitter(s) and/or detector(s) of the opticalsensor may be disposed or arranged in the protrusion juxtaposed thewindow or light transmissive structure. (See, for example, FIGS. 3 and11). As such, when attached to the user's body, the window portion ofthe protrusion of the biometric monitoring device engages the user'sskin with more force than the surrounding device body—thereby providinga more secure physical connection between the user's skin and theoptical window. That is, a protrusion improves sustained and/or fixedcontact between the biometric monitoring device and the user's skin (forexample, the skin of a predetermined portion of the user's body) whichmay reduce the amount of stray light measured by the photodetector,decrease motion between the biometric monitoring device and the user,and/or provide improved local pressure to the user's skin; all of whichmay increase the quality of the cardiac signal of interest. Notably, theprotrusion may contain other sensors that benefit from close proximityand/or secure contact to the user's skin. These may be included inaddition to or in lieu of a heart rate sensor and include sensors suchas a skin temperature sensor (e.g., noncontact thermopile that utilizesthe optical window or thermistor joined with thermal epoxy to the outersurface of the protrusion), pulse oximeter, blood pressure sensor, EMG,or galvanic skin response sensor.

In addition thereto, or in lieu thereof, a portion of the skin side ofthe biometric monitoring device may include a friction enhancingmechanism or material. For example, the skin side of the biometricmonitoring device may include a plurality of raised or depressed regionsportions (for example, small bumps, ridges, grooves, and/or divots).Moreover, a friction enhancing material (for example, a gel-likematerial such as silicone) may be disposed on the skin side. Indeed, adevice back made out of gel may also provide friction while alsoimproving user comfort and preventing stray light from entering. Asnoted above, a friction enhancing mechanism or material may be usedalone or in conjunction with the biometric monitoring device having aprotrusion as described herein. In this regard, the biometric monitoringdevice may include a plurality of raised or depressed regions portions(for example, small bumps, ridges, grooves, and/or divots) in or on theprotrusion portion of the device. Indeed, such raised or depressedregions portions may be incorporated/embedded in or on a window portionof the protrusion. In addition thereto, or in lieu thereof, theprotrusion portion may consist of or be coated with a friction enhancingmaterial (for example, a gel-like material such as silicone). Notably,the use of a protrusion and/or friction may improve measurement accuracyof data acquisition corresponding to certain parameters (e.g., heartrate, heart rate variability, galvanic skin response, skin temperature,skin coloration, heat flux, blood pressure, blood glucose, etc.) byreducing motions of the sensor relative to the user's skin duringoperation, especially whilst the user is in motion.

Some or all of the interior or skin side of the housing of the biometricmonitoring device may also consist of a metal material (for example,steel, stainless steel, aluminum, magnesium, or titanium). Such aconfiguration may provide a structural rigidity. (See, for example, FIG.3). In this embodiment, the device body may be designed to behypoallergenic through the use of a hypoallergenic “Nickel-Free”stainless steel. Notably, it may be advantageous to employ (at least incertain locations) a type of metal that is ferrous in properties (forexample, a grade of stainless steel that is ferrous). Under thiscircumstance, the portable biometric monitoring device (where itincludes a rechargeable energy source (for example, rechargeablebattery) may interconnect with a charger using magnetic properties tosecure thereto. In addition, the portable biometric monitoring devicemay also engage a dock or dock station using such magnetic properties tofacilitate data transfer. Moreover, such a housing may provide enhancedelectromagnetic shielding which would enhance the integrity andreliability of the optical heart rate sensor and data acquisitionprocess/operation. Furthermore, a skin temperature sensor may bephysically and thermally coupled, for example with thermal epoxy, to themetal body to detect or sense the temperature of the user. Inembodiments including a protrusion, the sensor may be positioned near orin the protrusion to provide secure contact and localized thermalcoupling to the user's skin.

In a preferred embodiment, one or more components of the optical sensor(which may, in one embodiment, located in a protrusion, and/or inanother embodiment, may be disposed or placed flush to the surface ofthe device) are attached, fixed, included and/or secured to the portablebiometric monitoring device via a liquid-tight seal (i.e., amethod/mechanism that prevents liquid ingress into the body of thebiometric monitoring device). For example, in one embodiment, a deviceback made out of a metal including but not limited to stainless steel,aluminum, magnesium, or titanium or a rigid plastic could provide astructure which is stiff enough to maintain the structural integrity ofthe device while accommodating a watertight seal for the sensor package.(See, FIGS. 3-7).

In a preferred embodiment, a package or module of the optical sensorwould be connected to the device with a pressure sensitive adhesive anda liquid gasket. (See, FIG. 7). Screws, rivets or the like may also beused, for example, if a stronger or more durable connection is requiredbetween the optical sensor package/module and the device body. Notably,the present inventions may also use watertight glues, hydrophobicmembranes such as Gore-Tex, O-rings, sealant, grease, or epoxy to secureor attach the optical sensor package/module and the device body.

As intimated above, the portable biometric monitoring device may includea material disposed on the skin or interior side which includes highreflectivity characteristic—for example, polished stainless steel,reflective paint, and polished plastic. In this way, lightscattered/reflected off the skin side of the device may bescattered/reflected back into the skin in order to, for example, improvethe SNR. Indeed, this effectively increases the input light signal ascompared with a device body back that is non-reflective. Notably, in oneembodiment, the color of the skin or interior side of the biometricmonitoring device is selected to provide certain optical characteristics(for example, reflect certain or predetermined wavelengths of light), inorder to improve the signal of certain physiological data types. Forexample, where the skin or interior side of the biometric monitoring isgreen, the measurements of the heart rate may be enhanced due to thepreferential emission of a wavelength of the light corresponding to thegreen spectrum. Where the skin or interior side of the biometricmonitoring is red, the measurements of the SpO2 may be enhanced due tothe emission preferential of a wavelength of the light corresponding tothe red spectrum. In one embodiment, the color of the skin or interiorside of the biometric monitoring device may be modified, adjusted and/orcontrolled in accordance with a predetermined type of physiological databeing acquired.

FIG. 17 depicts an exemplary schematic block diagram of an opticalsensor where light is emitted from a light source toward the user's skinand the reflection is sensed by a light detector, wherein the output ofthe detector is subsequently digitized by an analog to digital converter(ADC). The intensity of the light source may be modified (e.g., througha light source intensity control module) to maintain a desirablescattered/reflected intensity signal. For example, the intensity of theoutput of the light source may be reduced to avoid saturation of theoutput signal from the light detector. As another example, the lightsource intensity may be increased to maintain the output signal from thelight detector within a desired range of output values. Notably, theactive control of the sensor device may be achieved through linear ornonlinear control methods such as proportional-integral-derivative (PID)control, fixed step control, predictive control, neural networks,hysteresis, and the like, and may also employ information derived fromother sensors in the device such as motion, galvanic skin response, etc.FIG. 17 is provided for illustration and does not limit theimplementation of such a system to, for instance, an ADC integratedwithin a MCU, or the use of a MCU for that matter. Other possibleimplementations include the use of one or more internal or externalADCs, FPGAs, ASICs, etc.

In another embodiment, the sensor device may incorporate the use of asample and hold circuit (or equivalent) to maintain the output of thelight detector while the light source is turned off or attenuated tosave power. In embodiments of the present inventions where relativechanges in the light detector output are of primary importance (e.g.,heart rate measurement), the sample and hold circuit may not have tomaintain an accurate copy of the output of the light detector. In suchcases, the sample and hold circuitry may be, for example, a diode (e.g.,Schottky diode) and capacitor. The output of the sample and hold may bepresented to an analog signal conditioning circuit (e.g., a Sallen-Keybandpass filter, level shifter, and/or gain circuit) to condition andamplify the signal within frequency bands of interest (e.g., 0.1 Hz to10 Hz for cardiac or respiratory function) which is then digitized bythe ADC. (See, for example, FIG. 18).

In operation, this removes the DC and low frequency components of thesignal and helps resolve the AC component related to heart rate and/orrespiration. This embodiment may also include the analog signalconditioning circuitry (not illustrated) for variable gain settings thatcan be controlled to provide a suitable signal (e.g., not saturated).The performance characteristics (e.g., slew rate and/or gain bandwidthproduct) and power consumption of the light source, light detector,and/or sample and hold may be significantly higher than the analogsignal conditioning circuit to enable fast duty cycling of the lightsource. In one embodiment, the power provided to the light source andlight detector may be controlled separately from the power provided tothe analog signal conditioning circuit to provide additional powersavings. In another embodiment, the output of the light detector and/orsample and hold may be acquired or sampled by an ADC in addition to orin lieu of the analog signal conditioning circuit to control the lightintensity of the light source or to measure the physiologic parametersof interest, for example, when the analog signal conditioning circuit isnot yet stable after a change to the light intensity setting. Notably,because the physiologic signal of interest is typically small relativeto the inherent resolution of the ADC, in some embodiments, thereference voltages and/or gain of the ADC may be adjusted to enhancesignal quality, or the ADC may be oversampled. In yet anotherembodiment, the device may digitize the output of only the sample andhold circuit by, for example, oversampling, adjusting the referencevoltages and/or gain of the ADC, or using a high resolution ADC. (See,for example, FIG. 19).

In another embodiment, the sensor device may incorporate a differentialamplifier to amplify the relative changes in the output of the lightdetector output. (See, for example, FIG. 22). In one embodiment, adigital average or digital lowpass filtered signal is subtracted fromthe output of the light detector output and amplified before it isdigitized by the ADC. In another embodiment, an analog average or analoglowpass filtered signal is subtracted from the output of the lightdetector through, for example, the use of a sample and hold circuit andanalog signal conditioning circuitry. The power provided to the lightsource, light detector, and differential amplifier may be controlledseparately from the power provided to the analog signal conditioningcircuit to improve power savings.

In one embodiment, the light detector module may incorporate atransimpedance amplifier stage with variable gain. Such a configurationmay avoid or minimize saturation from bright ambient light and/or brightemitted light from the light source. For example, the gain of thetransimpedance amplifier may be automatically adjusted and/or reducedwith a variable resistor and/or multiplexed set of resistors in thenegative feedback path of the transimpedance amplifier. In embodiment ofthe present inventions, the device may incorporate little to no opticalshielding from ambient light by amplitude modulating the intensity ofthe light source and demodulating the output of the light detector(e.g., synchronous detection). (See, for example, FIG. 21). In otheraspects, if the ambient light is of sufficient brightness to obtain aheart rate signal, the light source may be reduced in brightness and/orturned off completely.

In yet another embodiment, the aforementioned processing techniques maybe used in combination to optically measure physiological parameters ofthe user. (See, for example, FIG. 23). This topology may allow thesensor device to operate in a low power measurement state and circuittopology when applicable and adapt to a higher power measurement stateand circuit topology as necessary. For instance, the sensor device maymeasure the physiologic parameter of interest (e.g., heart rate) usinganalog signal conditioning circuitry whilst the user is immobile orsedentary to reduce power consumption, but switch to oversampledsampling of the light detector output directly whilst the user isactive.

There are many inventions described and illustrated herein in thecontext of physiological sensors/detectors. While certain embodiments,features, attributes and advantages of the inventions have beendescribed and illustrated, it should be understood that many others, aswell as different and/or similar embodiments, features, attributes andadvantages of the present inventions, are apparent from the descriptionand illustrations. As such, the above embodiments of the inventions aremerely exemplary. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinventions to the precise forms, techniques, materials and/orconfigurations disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of this disclosure.

For example, in an embodiment where the device includes a heart ratemonitor, processing of the signal to obtain heart rate measurements maycomprise filtering and/or signal conditioning such as bandpass filtering(e.g., Butterworth filter). To counteract the large transients that mayoccur in the signal and/or to improve convergence of said filtering,nonlinear approaches may be employed such as neural networks or slewrate limiting. Data from one or more of the sensors on the portablebiometric monitoring device, such as data which corresponds to motion,galvanic skin response, skin temperature, etc., may be used to adjustand/or determine the signal conditioning methods implemented by thedevice. Under certain operating conditions, the heart rate of the usermay be measured by counting the number of signal peaks within a timewindow or utilizing the fundamental frequency or second harmonic of thesignal (e.g., through a fast Fourier transform (FFT)). In other cases,such as motion, FFTs may be performed on the signal and spectral peaksextracted, which are subsequently processed by a multiple target trackerwhich starts, continues, merges, and deletes tracks of the spectra.

In one embodiment, a similar set of operations are performed on themotion signal and the output is used to do activity discrimination(e.g., sedentary, walking, running, sleeping, lying down, sitting,biking, typing, elliptical, weight training) which is used to assist themultiple target tracker. For instance, it may be determined that theuser was stationary and has begun to move and this information may beused to preferentially bias the track continuation toward increasingfrequencies. Similarly, the activity discriminator may determine thatthe user has stopped running or is running slower and this informationmay be used to preferentially bias the track continuation towarddecreasing frequencies. Tracking may be achieved with single-scan ormulti-scan multi-target tracker topologies such as joint probabilisticdata association trackers, multiple hypotheses tracking, nearestneighbor, etc. Estimation and prediction in the tracker may be donethrough Kalman filters, spline regression, particle filters, interactingmultiple model filters, etc. A track selector module uses the outputtracks from the multiple spectra tracker and estimates the user's heartrate. The estimate may be taken as the maximum likelihood track, aweight sum of the tracks against their probabilities of being the heartrate, etc. The activity discriminator may furthermore influence theselection and/or fusion to get the heart rate estimate. For instance, ifthe user is sleeping, sitting, lying down, or sedentary, a priorprobability may be skewed toward heart rates in the 40-80 bpm range;whereas if the user is running, jogging, or doing other vigorousexercise, a prior probability may be skewed toward elevated heart ratesin the 90-180 bpm range. The influence of the activity discriminator maybe based on the speed of the user. The estimate may be shifted toward(or wholly obtained by) the fundamental frequency of the signal when theuser is not moving. The track that corresponds to the user's heart ratemay be selected based on criteria that are indicative of changes inactivity—for instance, if the user begins to walk from being stationary,the track that illustrates a shift toward higher frequency may bepreferentially chosen.

The acquisition of a good heart rate signal may be indicated to the userthrough a display on the biometric monitoring device or another devicein communication with the biometric monitoring device (for example,wired or wireless communication (e.g., a Bluetooth Low Energy equippedmobile phone)). In a preferred embodiment, the biometric monitoringdevice includes a signal strength indicator which is represented by thepulsing of a LED that is viewable by the user. The pulsing may be timedor correlated to be coincident with the user's heart beat. Theintensity, pulsing rate and/or color of the LED may be modified oradjusted to suggest signal strength. For example, a brighter LEDintensity may represent a stronger signal or in an RGB-type LEDconfiguration, a green colored LED may represent a stronger signal.

In a preferred embodiment, the strength of the heart rate signal may bedetermined by the energy (e.g., squared cumulative sum) of the signal ina frequency band of, for instance, 0.5 Hz to 4 Hz. In anotherembodiment, the biometric monitoring device of the present inventionsmay have a strain gauge, pressure sensor, and/or force sensor which maybe incorporated or constructed into the housing and/or in the band (inthose embodiments where the biometric monitoring device is attached toor mounted with a band like a watch, bracelet, and/or armband—which maythen be secured to the user). A signal quality metric may be calculatedwith these contact sensors either alone or in combination with data fromthe heart rate signal.

In another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may monitor heartrate optically through an array of photodetectors such as a grid ofphotodiodes or a CCD camera. Motion of the optical device with respectto the skin may be tracked through feature tracking of the skin and/oradaptive motion correction using an accelerometer and gyroscope. Thedetector array may be in contact with the skin or offset at a smalldistance away from the skin. The detector array and its associatedoptics may be actively controlled (e.g., with a motor) to maintain astabilized image of the target and acquire a heart rate signal. Thisoptomechanical stabilization may be achieved using information frommotion sensors (e.g., gyroscope) or image features. In one embodiment,the biometric monitoring device may implement relative motioncancellation using a coherent or incoherent light source to illuminatethe skin and a photodetector array with each photodetector associatedwith comparators for comparing the intensity between neighboringdetectors—obtaining a so-called speckle pattern which may be trackedusing a variety of image tracking techniques such as, for example,optical flow, template matching, edge tracking, etc. In this embodiment,the light source used for motion tracking may be different from thelight source used in the optical heart rate monitor.

In another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may consist of aplurality of photodetectors and photoemitters distributed along thesurface of the device that touches the user's skin (i.e., the skin sideof the biometric monitoring device). (See, for example, FIGS. 2-11). Inthe example of a bracelet, for instance, there may be a plurality ofphotodetectors and photoemitters placed along the circumference of theinterior of the band. (See, for example, FIG. 11). A heart rate signalquality metric at each site may be calculated to determine the best orset of best sites for estimating the user's heart rate. Subsequently,some of the sites may be disabled or turned off to, for example, reducepower consumption. The device may periodically check the heart ratesignal quality at some or all of the sites to (i) select/enable one ormore sensors and/or detectors and/or (ii) determine one or morepreferred sensor/detector to, for example, thereby enhance, monitorand/or optimize signal and/or power efficiency.

In another embodiment, biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may include a heart rate monitoring system including aplurality of sensors such as optical, acoustic, pressure, electrical(e.g., EKG), and motion and fuse the information from two or more ofthese sensors to provide an estimate of heart rate and/or mitigate noiseinduced from motion.

In addition to heart rate monitoring (or other biometric monitoring), orin lieu thereof, the biometric monitoring device, in one embodiment,includes optical sensors to track or detect time and duration ofultraviolet light exposure, total outdoor light exposure, the type oflight source and duration and intensity of that light source(fluorescent light exposure, incandescent bulb light exposure, halogen,etc.), exposure to television (based on light type and flicker rate),whether the user is indoors or outdoors, time of day and location basedon light conditions. In one embodiment, the ultraviolet detection sensormay consist of a reverse biased LED emitter driven as a light detector.The photocurrent produced by this detector may be characterized by, forinstance, measuring the time it takes for the LED's capacitance (oralternately a parallel capacitor) to discharge.

All of the optical sensors could be used in conjunction with othersensors to improve detection of the data described above or be used toaugment detection of other types of physiological or environmental data.

Where the biometric monitoring device includes an audio or passiveacoustic sensor, the device may contain one or more passive acousticsensors that detect sound and pressure and which can include but not belimited to microphones, piezo film, etc. The acoustic sensors may bedisposed on one or more sides of the device, including the side thattouches or faces the skin (skin side) and the sides that face theenvironment (environmental sides).

The biometric monitoring device of the present inventions may alsoinclude galvanic skin response (GSR) circuitry to measure the responseof the user's skin to emotional and physical stimuli or physiologicalchanges (e.g., the transition of sleep stage). In one embodiment, theinvention is a wrist or arm-mounted device incorporating a bandcomprised of conductive rubber or fabric so that the galvanic skinresponse electrodes may be hidden in the band. Because the galvanic skinresponse circuitry may be subjected to changing temperatures andenvironmental conditions, it may also include circuitry to enableautomatic calibration, such as two or more switchable referenceresistors in parallel or series with the human skin/electrode path thatallows real-time measurement of known resistors to characterize theresponse of the galvanic skin response circuit. The reference resistorsmay be switched into and out of the measurement path such that they aremeasured independently and/or simultaneously with the human skin.

The skin side sensors would detect any type of sound transmitted throughthe body and the sensors could be arranged in an array or pattern thatoptimizes both the SNR and power consumption. These sensors could detectrespiration (by listening to the lung), respiratory sounds (breathing,snoring) and problems, heart rate (listening to the heart beat), user'svoice (via sound transmitted from the vocal cords throughout the body).

Environmental Sensors

The monitoring device of the present inventions may use one, some or allof the following environmental sensors to, for example, acquire theenvironmental data, including environmental data outlined in the tablebelow. The monitoring device is not limited to the number or types ofsensors specified below but may employ other sensors that acquireenvironmental data outlined in the table below. All combinations andpermutations of environmental sensors and/or environmental data areintended to fall within the scope of the present inventions.Additionally, the device may derive environmental data from thecorresponding sensor output data, but is not limited to the types ofenvironmental data that it could derive from said sensor.

Notably, the monitoring device of the present inventions may one ormore, or all of the environmental sensors described herein and one ormore, or all of the physiological sensors described herein. Indeed,biometric monitoring device may acquire any or all of the environmentaldata and physiological data described herein using any sensor now knownor later developed—all of which are intended to fall within the scope ofthe present inventions.

Environmental Sensors Environmental data acquired Motion DetectorLocation Potential Embodiments: Elevation Inertial, Gyro orAccelerometer temperature GPS Indoor vs. outdoor Pressure/Altimetersensor Watching TV (spectrum/flicker rate Ambient Temp detection) LightSensor Optical data transfer-initiation, QR Audio codes, etc. Compassultraviolet light exposure Potential Embodiments: Indoor vs. Outdoor 3Axis Compass Location

In one embodiment, the monitoring device may include an altimetersensor, for example, disposed or located in the interior of the devicehousing. (See, for example, FIGS. 25 and 26). In such a case, the devicehousing may have a vent that allows the interior of the device tomeasure, detect, sample and/or experience any changes in exteriorpressure. In one embodiment, the vent prevents water from entering thedevice while facilitating measuring, detecting and/or sampling changesin pressure via the altimeter sensor. For example, an exterior surfaceof the biometric monitoring device may include a vent type configurationor architecture (e.g., a Gore™ vent) which allows ambient air to move inand out of the housing of the device (which allows the altimeter sensorto measure, detect and/or sample changes in pressure), but reduces,prevents and/or minimizes water and other liquids penetration into thedevice housing.

The altimeter sensor, in one embodiment, may be filled with gel thatallows the sensor to experience pressure changes outside of the gel. Theuse of a gel filled altimeter may give the device a higher level ofenvironmental protection with or without the use of an environmentallysealed vent. The device may have a higher survivability rate with a gelfilled altimeter in locations including but not limited to those thathave high humidity, a clothes washer, a dish washer, a clothes dryer, asteam room, the shower, a pool, and any location where the device may beexposed to moisture, exposed to liquid or submerged in liquid.

Sensors Integration/Signal Processing

The biometric monitoring device of the present inventions may use datafrom two or more sensors to calculate the corresponding physiological orenvironmental data as seen in the table below (for example, data fromtwo or more sensors which are used in combination). The device mayinclude but is not limited to the number, types, or combinations ofsensors specified below. Additionally, the device may derive theincluded data from the corresponding sensor combinations, but is notlimited to the number or types of data that could be calculated from thecorresponding sensor combinations

Data derived from signal Sensor Integrations processing of multiplesensors Skin Temp and Ambient Temp Heat Flux Heart Rate and MotionElevation gain Motion detector and other user's Users in the proximitymotion detector Sit/Standing detection Motion, any heart rate sensor,Sleep Phase detection galvanic skin response Sleep Apnea detection Anyheart rate, heart rate variability Resting Heart rate sensor,respiration, motion Active Heart Rate Any heart rate sensor and/or Heartrate while asleep wetness sensor, and/or motion Heart rate whilesedentary detector Early detection of heart problems: Any heart ratedetector cardiac Arrhythmia Multiple heart rate detectors Cardiac arrestAudio and/or strain gauge Pulse transit time GPS andphotoplethysmography Typing detection (PPG) location- stresscorrelation: Heart rate, galvanic skin response, determination ofstressful regions accelerometer and respiration determination of lowstress regions Activity specific heart rate resting heart rate activeheart rate Automatic activity classification and activity heart ratedetermination User fatigue, for example while exercising

In one embodiment, the device may also include a near-fieldcommunication (NFC) receiver/transmitter to detect proximity to anotherdevice, such as a mobile phone. When the device is brought into close ordetectable proximity to the second device, it may trigger the start ofnew functionality on the second device (e.g., the launching of an “app”on the mobile phone and radio syncing of physiological data from thedevice to the second device). (See, for example, FIG. 16). Indeed, thebiometric monitoring device of the present inventions may implement anyof the circuitry and techniques described and/or illustrated in U.S.Provisional Patent Application 61/606,559, filed Mar. 5, 2012, “NearField Communication System, and Method of Operating Same”, inventor:James Park (the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference).

In another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device includes alocation sensor (for example, GPS circuitry) and heart rate sensor (forexample, photoplethysmography circuitry) to generate GPS or locationrelated data and heart rate related data, respectively. (See, forexample, FIGS. 25 and 26). The biometric monitoring device may thenfuse, process and/or combine data from these two sensors/circuitry to,for example, determine, correlate and/or “map” geographical regionsaccording to physiological data (for example, heart rate, stress,activity level, quantity of sleep and/or caloric intake). In this way,the biometric monitoring device may identify geographical regions thatincrease or decrease a measurable user metric including but not limitedto heart rate, stress, activity, level, quantity of sleep and/or caloricintake.

In addition thereto, or in lieu thereof, the biometric monitoring devicemay employ the GPS related data and photoplethysmography related data(notably, each of which may be considered data streams), to determine orcorrelate the user's heart rate according to activity levels—forexample, as determined by the user's acceleration, speed, locationand/or distance traveled (as measured by the GPS and/or determined fromGPS related data). (See, for example, FIGS. 25 and 26). Here, in oneembodiment, heart rate as a function of speed may be “plotted” orcorrelated for the user, or the data could be broken down into differentlevels including but not limited to sleeping, resting, sedentary,moderately active, active, and highly active.

Indeed, the biometric monitoring device may also correlate GPS relateddata to a database of predetermined geographic locations that haveactivities associated with them for a set of predetermined conditions.For example, activity determination and corresponding physiologicalclassification (for example, heart rate classification) may includecorrelating a user's GPS coordinates that correspond to location(s) ofexercise equipment, health club and/or gym and physiological data. Underthese circumstances, a user's heart rate during, for example a gymworkout, may be automatically measured and displayed. Notably, manyphysiological classifications may be based on GPS related data includinglocation, acceleration, altitude, distance and/or velocity. Such adatabase including geographic data and physiological data may becompiled, developed and/or stored on the biometric monitoring deviceand/or external computing device. Indeed, in one embodiment, the usermay create their own location database or add to or modify the locationdatabase to better classify their activities.

In another embodiment, the user may simultaneously wear multiplebiometric monitoring devices (having any of the features describedherein). The devices of this embodiment may communicate with each otheror a remote device using wired or wireless circuitry to calculate, forexample, biometric or physiologic qualities or quantities that, forexample, may be difficult or inaccurate to calculate otherwise such aspulse transit time. The use of multiple sensors may also improve theaccuracy and/or precision of biometric measurements over the accuracyand/or precision of a single sensor. For example, having a device on thewaist, wrist, and ankle could improve the detection of the user taking astep over that of a single device in only one of those locations. Signalprocessing could be performed on the devices in a distributed orcentralized method to provide improved measurements over that of asingle device. This signal processing could also be performed remotelyand communicated back to the devices after processing.

Processing Task Delegation

The biometric monitoring device may include one or more processors.(See, for example, FIGS. 29-31). For example, an independent applicationprocessor may be used to store and execute applications that utilizesensor data acquired and processed by one or more sensor processors(processor(s) that process data from physiological, environmental and/oractivity sensors). In the case where there are multiple sensors, theremay also be multiple sensor processors. An application processor mayhave sensors directly connected to it as well. Sensor and applicationprocessors may exist as separate discrete chips or exist within the samepackaged chip (multi-core). A device may have a single applicationprocessor, or an application processor and sensor processor, or aplurality of application processors and sensor processors.

In one embodiment, the sensor package may be placed on a daughterboardthat includes the analog components. This board may have some of theelectronics typically found on the main PCB such as, but not limited to,transimpedance amplifiers, filtering circuits, level shifters, sampleand hold circuits, and a microcontroller unit. Such a configuration mayallow the daughterboard to be connected to the main PCB through the useof a digital connection rather than analog in addition to any necessarypower or ground connections. A digital connection may have a variety ofadvantages over the analog daughter to main PCB connection including butnot limited to a reduction in noise and a reduction in the number ofnecessary cables. The daughterboard may be connected to the main boardthrough the use of a flex cable or set of wires.

Multiple applications may be stored on an application processor. Anapplication can consist of executable code and data for the application,but not limited to these. Data may consist of graphics or otherinformation required to execute the application and/or informationoutput generated by the application. The executable code and data forthe application can both reside on the application processor or the datafor the application can be stored and retrieved from an external memory.External memory may include but is not limited to NAND flash, NOR flash,flash on another processor, other solid-state storage, mechanical oroptical disks, and/or MRAM.

The executable code for an application may also be stored on an externalmemory. When an application is requested to be executed, the applicationprocessor retrieves the executable code and/or data from the externalstorage and executes it. The executable code can be temporarily orpermanently stored on the memory or storage of the applicationprocessor. This allows the application to be executed more quickly onthe next execution request, since the step of retrieval is eliminated.When the application is requested to be executed, the applicationprocessor can retrieve all of the executable code of the application orportions of the executable code. In the latter case, only the portion ofexecutable code required at that moment is retrieved. This allowsapplications that are larger than the application processor's memory orstorage to be executed.

The application processor may also have memory protection features toprevent applications from overwriting, corrupting, interrupting,blocking, or otherwise interfering with other applications, the sensorsystem, the application processor, or other components of the systemand/or sensor device.

Applications may be loaded onto the application processor and anyexternal storage via a variety of wired, wireless, optical, capacitivemechanisms including but not limited to USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, BluetoothLow Energy, NFC, RFID, and Zigbee.

In one embodiment, applications may be cryptographically signed with anelectronic signature. As such, the application processor may restrictthe execution of applications to those that have the correct signature.

Methods of Wearing the Device

The biometric monitoring device may include a housing having a size andshape that facilitates fixing the device to the user's body (orclothing) during normal operation wherein the device, when coupled tothe user, does not measurably or appreciably impact the user's activity.The device may be worn in different ways depending on the specificsensor package integrated into the device and the data that the userwould like to acquire.

A user may wear one or more of the biometric monitoring devices of thepresent inventions on their wrist or ankle (or arm or leg) with the useof a band that is flexible and thereby readily fitted to the user. Theband may have an adjustable circumference, therefore allowing it to befitted to the user. The band may be constructed from a material thatshrinks when exposed to heat, therefore allowing the user to create acustom fit. The band may be detachable from the “electronics” portion ofthe biometric monitoring device and, if necessary, replaceable.

In a preferred embodiment, the biometric monitoring device consists oftwo major components—a body (containing the “electronics”) and a band(that facilitates attaching the device to the user). The body mayinclude a housing (made, for example, of a plastic or plastic-likematerial) and extension tabs projecting from the body (made, forexample, from a metal or metal-like material). (See, for example, FIGS.4-7). The band (made, for example, of a thermoplastic urethane) isattachable to the body mechanically or adhesively. The band may extendout a fraction of the circumference of the user's wrist. The distal endsof the urethane band may be connected with a Velcro, a hook and/or loopelastic fabric band that loops around a D-Ring on one side and thenattaches back to itself. In this embodiment, the closure mechanism wouldallow the user infinite band length adjustment (unlike an indexed holeand mechanical clasp closure). The Velcro or fabric could be attached tothe band in a manner that allows it to be replaced (for example, if itis worn or otherwise undesirable to wear before the useful or end oflife of the device). In one embodiment, the Velcro or fabric would beattached with screws or rivets and/or glue, adhesive and/or clasp to theband.

The biometric monitoring device of the present inventions may also beintegrated and worn in a necklace, chest band, bra, patch, glasses,earring, or toe band. The device may be built in such a way that thesensor package/portion of the biometric monitoring device is removableand can be worn in any number of ways including, but not limited to,those listed above.

In another embodiment, the biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may be worn clipped to an article of clothing or deposited inclothing (e.g., pocket) or an accessory (e.g., handbag, backpack,wallet). Because the biometric monitoring device may not be near theuser's skin, in embodiments that include heart rate measurements, themeasurements may be obtained in a discrete, “on demand” context by theuser manually placing the device into a specific mode (e.g., depressinga button, covering a capacitive touch sensor, etc., possibly with theheart rate sensor embedded in the button/sensor) or automatically oncethe user places the device against the skin (e.g., applying the fingerto an optical heart rate sensor).

User Interface with the Device

The biometric monitoring device may include one or more methods ofinteracting with the device either locally or remotely.

In one embodiment, the biometric monitoring device may convey datavisually through a digital display. The physical embodiment of thisdisplay may use any one or a plurality of display technologiesincluding, but not limited to one or more of LED, LCD, AMOLED, E-Ink,Sharp display technology, graphical display, and other displaytechnologies such as TN, HTN, STN, FSTN, TFT, IPS, and OLET. Thisdisplay could show data acquired or stored locally on the device orcould display data acquired remotely from other devices or Internetservices. The device may use a sensor (for example, an Ambient LightSensor, “ALS”) to control or adjust screen backlighting. For example, indark lighting situations, the display may be dimmed to conserve batterylife, whereas in bright lighting situations, the display may increaseits brightness so that it is more easily read by the user.

In another embodiment, the device may use single or multicolor LEDs toindicate a state of the device. States that the device indicate mayinclude but are not limited to biometric states such as heart rate orapplication states such as an incoming message, a goal has been reached.These states may be indicated through the LED's color, being on, off, anintermediate intensity, pulsing (and/or rate thereof), and/or a patternof light intensities from completely off to highest brightness. In oneembodiment, an LED may modulate its intensity and/or color with thephase and frequency of the user's heart rate.

In a preferred embodiment, the use of an E-Ink type display ortechnology would allow the display to remain on without the batterydrain of a non-reflective display. This “always-on” functionality mayprovide a pleasant user experience in the case of, for example, a watchapplication where the user may simply glance at the device to see thetime. The E-Ink display always displays content without compromising thebattery life of the device, allowing the user to see the time as theywould on a traditional watch.

The device may use a light such as an LED to display the heart rate ofthe user by modulating the amplitude of the light emitted at thefrequency of the user's heart rate. The device may depict heart ratezones (e.g., aerobic, anaerobic) through the color of an LED (e.g.,green, red) or a sequence of LEDs that light up in accordance withchanges in heart rate (e.g., a progress bar). The device may beintegrated or incorporated into another device or structure, forexample, glasses or goggles, or communicate with glasses or goggles todisplay this information to the user.

The biometric monitoring device may also convey information to a userthrough the physical motion of the device. One such embodiment of amethod to physically move the device is the use of a vibration inducingmotor (for example, a vibromotor/vibramotor). The device may use thismethod alone, or in combination with a plurality of motion inducingtechnologies.

The device may convey information to a user through audio. A speakercould convey information through the use of audio tones, voice, songs,or other sounds.

These three information communication methods—visual, motion, andauditory—may be used alone or in any combination with each other oranother method of communication to communicate any one or plurality ofthe following information:

-   -   That a user needs to wake up at certain time    -   That a user should wake up as they are in a certain sleep phase    -   That a user should go to sleep as it is a certain time    -   That a user should wake up as they are in a certain sleep phase        and in a preselected time window bounded by the earliest and        latest time that the user wants to wake up.    -   An email was received    -   The user has been inactive for a certain period of time.        Notably, this may integrate with other applications like, for        instance, a meeting calendar or sleep tracking application to        block out, reduce, or adjust the behavior of the inactivity        alert.    -   The user has been active for a certain period of time    -   The user has an appointment or calendar event    -   The user has reached a certain activity metric    -   The user has gone a certain distance    -   The user has reached a certain mile pace    -   The user has reached a certain speed    -   The user has accumulated a certain elevation gain    -   The user has taken a certain number of steps    -   The user has had a heart rate measurement recently    -   The user's heart rate has reached a certain level    -   The user has a normal, active, or resting heart rate of a        specific value or in a specific range    -   The user's heart rate has enter or exited a certain goal range        or training zone    -   The user has a new heart rate “zone” goal to reach, as in the        case of heart rate zone training for running, bicycling,        swimming, etc. activities    -   The user has swum a lap or completed a certain number of laps in        a pool    -   An external device has information that needs to be communicated        to the user such as an incoming phone call or any one of the        above alerts    -   The user has reached a certain fatigue goal or limit. In one        embodiment, fatigue may be determined through a combination of        heart rate, galvanic skin response, motion sensor, and/or        respiration data

These examples are provided for illustration and are not intended tolimit the scope of information that may be communicated by the device(to, for example, the user). Note that the data used to determinewhether or not an alert is met may be acquired from a first deviceand/or one or more secondary devices. The device itself may determinewhether the criteria for an alert has been met. Alternatively, acomputing device in communication with the device (e.g. a server and/ora mobile phone) may determine when the alert should occur. In view ofthis disclosure, other information that the device may communicate tothe user can be envisioned by one of ordinary skill in the art. Forexample, the device may communicate with the user when a goal has beenmet. The criteria for meeting this goal may be based on physiological,contextual, and environmental sensors on a first device, and/or othersensor data from one or more secondary devices. The goal may be set bythe user or may be set by the device itself and/or another computingdevice in communication with the device (e.g. a server). In an exemplaryembodiment, the device may vibrate when a biometric goal is met.

The biometric monitoring device of the present inventions may beequipped with wireless and/or wired communication circuitry to displaydata on a secondary device in real time. For example, the invention maybe able to communicate with a mobile phone via Bluetooth Low Energy inorder to give real-time feedback of heart rate, heart rate variability,and/or stress to the user. The invention may coach or grant “points” forthe user to breathe in specific ways that alleviate stress. Stress maybe quantified or evaluated through heart rate, heart rate variability,skin temperature, changes in motion-activity data and/or galvanic skinresponse.

The biometric monitoring device may receive input from the user throughone or more local or remote input methods. One such embodiment of localuser input could use a sensor or set of sensors to translate a user'smovement into a command to the device. Such motions could include butmay not be limited to tapping, rolling the wrist, flexing one or moremuscles, and swinging. Another user input method may be through the useof a button of type, but not limited to the types, capacitive touchbutton, capacitive screen, and mechanical button. In one embodiment, theuser interface buttons may be made of metal. In the case that the screenuses capacitive touch detection, it may always be sampling and ready torespond to any gesture or input without an intervening event such aspushing a physical button. The device may also take input through theuse of audio commands. All of these input methods may be integrated intothe device locally or integrated into a remote device that cancommunicate with the device either through a wired or wirelessconnection. In addition, the user may also be able to manipulate thedevice through a remote device. In one embodiment, this remote devicecould have Internet connectivity.

In one embodiment, the biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may operate as a wrist-mounted vibrating alarm to silentlywake the user from sleep. The biometric monitoring device may track theuser's sleep quality, waking periods, sleep latency, sleep efficiency,sleep stages (e.g., deep sleep versus REM), and/or other sleep-relatedmetrics through one or a combination of heart rate, heart ratevariability, galvanic skin response, motion sensing (e.g.,accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer), and skin temperature. The usermay specify a desired alarm time and the invention may use one or moreof the sleep metrics to determine an optimal time to wake the user. Inone embodiment, when the vibrating alarm is active, the user may causeit to hibernate or turn off by slapping or tapping the device (which isdetected, for example, via motion sensor(s), a pressure/force sensorand/or capacitive touch sensor in the device). In one embodiment, thedevice may attempt to arouse the user at an optimum point in the sleepcycle by starting a small vibration at a specific user sleep stage ortime prior to the alarm setting. It may progressively increase theintensity or noticeability of the vibration as the user progressestoward wakefulness or toward the alarm setting. (See, for example, FIG.14).

In another aspect, the biometric monitoring device may be configured orcommunicated with using onboard optical sensors such as the componentsin an optical heart rate monitor.

Wireless Connectivity and Data Transmission

The biometric monitoring device of the present inventions may include ameans of wireless communication to transmit and receive information fromthe Internet and/or other devices. The wireless communication mayconsist of one or more means such as Bluetooth, ANT, WLAN, power-linenetworking, and cell phone networks. These are provided as examples anddo not exclude other wireless communication methods existent or that areyet to be invented.

The wireless connection is two ways. The device may transmit,communicate and/or push its data to other peripheral devices and/or theInternet. The device may also receive, request and/or pull data fromother peripheral devices and/or the Internet.

The biometric monitoring device may act as a relay to providecommunication for other devices to each other or to the Internet. Forexample, the device may connect to the Internet via WLAN but also beequipped with an ANT radio. An ANT device may communicate with thedevice to transmit its data to the Internet through the device's WLAN(and vice versa). As another example, the device may be equipped withBluetooth. If a Bluetooth-enabled smart phone comes within reach of thedevice, the device may transmit data to or receive data from theInternet through the smart phone's cell phone network. Data from anotherdevice may also be transmitted to the device and stored (and vice versa)or transmitted at a later time.

The present inventions may also include streaming or transmitting webcontent for displaying on the biometric monitoring device. The followingare typical examples:

-   -   Historical graphs of heart rate and/or other data measured by        the device but stored remotely    -   Historical graphs of user activity and/or foods consumed and/or        sleep data that are measured by other devices and/or stored        remotely (e.g., fitbit.com)    -   Historical graphs of other user-tracked data stored remotely.        Examples include heart rate, blood pressure, arterial stiffness,        blood glucose levels, cholesterol, duration of TV watching,        duration of video game play, mood, etc.    -   Coaching and/or dieting data based on one or more of the user's        heart rate, current weight, weight goals, food intake, activity,        sleep, and other data.    -   User progress toward heart rate, weight, activity, sleep, and/or        other goals.    -   Summary statistics, graphics, badges, and/or metrics (e.g.,        “grades”) to describe the aforementioned data    -   The aforementioned data displayed for the user and his/her        “friends” with similar devices and/or tracking methods    -   Social content such as Twitter feeds, instant messaging, and/or        Facebook updates    -   Other online content such as newspaper articles, horoscopes,        weather reports, RSS feeds, comics, crossword puzzles,        classified advertisements, stock reports, and websites    -   Email messages and calendar schedules

Content may be delivered to the biometric monitoring device according todifferent contexts. For instance, in the morning, news and weatherreports may be displayed along with the user's sleep data from theprevious night. In the evening, a daily summary of the day's activitiesmay be displayed.

The invention may also include NFC, RFID, or other short-range wirelesscommunication circuitry that may be used to initiate functionality inother devices. For instance, the invention may be equipped with an NFCantenna so that when a user puts it into close proximity with a mobilephone, an app is launched automatically on the mobile phone.

These examples are provided for illustration and are not intended tolimit the scope of data that may be transmitted, received, or displayedby the device, nor any intermediate processing that may occur duringsuch transfer and display. In view of this disclosure/application, manyother data can be envisioned by one reasonably skilled in the art.

Charging and Data Transmission

The biometric monitoring device may use a wired connection to charge aninternal rechargeable battery and/or transfer data to a host device suchas a laptop or mobile phone. In one embodiment, the device may usemagnets to help the user align the device to the dock or cable. Themagnetic field of magnets in the dock or cable and the magnets in thedevice itself could be strategically oriented to as to force the deviceto self-align and provide a force that holds the device to the dock orcable. The magnets may also be used as conductive contacts for chargingor data transmission. In another embodiment, a permanent magnet is onlyused in the dock or cable side, not in the device itself. This mayimprove the performance of the biometric monitoring device where thedevice employs a magnetometer. With a magnet in the device, the strongfield of a nearby permanent magnet may increase the difficulty for themagnetometer to accurately measure the earth's magnetic field.

In another embodiment, the device could contain one or moreelectromagnets in the device body. The charger or dock for charging anddata transmission would also contain an electromagnet and/or a permanentmagnet. The device could only turn on its electromagnet when it is closeto the charger or dock. It could detect proximity to the dock by lookingfor the magnetic field signature of a permanent magnet in the charger ordock using a magnetometer. Alternatively it could detect proximity tothe charger by measuring the Received Signal Strength Indication or RSSIof a wireless signal from the charger or dock. The electromagnet couldbe reversed, creating a force that repels the device from the chargingcable or dock either when the device doesn't need to be charged, synced,or when it has completed syncing or charging.

Configurable Application Functionality

In some embodiments, the biometric monitoring device of the presentinventions may include a watch-like form factor and/or bracelet, armlet,or anklet form factor and may be programmed with “apps” that launchspecific functionality and/or display specific information. Apps may belaunched or closed by a variety of means or techniques including but notlimited to pressing a button, using a capacitive touch sensor,performing a gesture that is detected by an accelerometer, moving to alocation detected by a GPS or motion sensor, compressing the devicebody, thereby creating a pressure signal inside the device that isdetected by an altimeter, or placing the device close to an NFC tagwhich is associated with an app or set of apps. Apps may also beautomatically triggered to launch or close by certain environmental orphysiological conditions including but not limited to a high heart rate,the detection of water using a wet sensor (to launch a swimmingapplication for example), a certain time of day (to launch a sleeptracking application at night for example), a change in pressure andmotion characteristic of a plane taking off or landing to launch andclose an “airplane” mode app. Apps may also be launched or closed bymeeting multiple conditions simultaneously. For example, if anaccelerometer detects that a user is running and the user presses abutton it may launch a pedometer application, an altimeter datacollection application and/or display. In another case where theaccelerometer detects swimming and the user presses the same button, itmay launch a lap counting application.

In one embodiment, the device could have a swim-tracking mode that maybe launched by starting a swimming app. In this mode, the device'smotion sensors and/or magnetometer may be used to detect swim strokes,classify swim stroke types, detect swimming laps, and other relatedmetrics such as stroke efficiency, lap time, speed, distance, andcalorie burn. Directional changes indicated by the magnetometer may beused to detect a diversity of lap turn methods. In a preferredembodiment, data from a motion sensor and/or pressure sensor may be usedto detect strokes.

In another embodiment, a bicycling app may be launched by moving thedevice within proximity of an NFC or RFID tag that is located on thebicycle, on a mount on the bicycle or in a location associated with abicycle including but not limited to a bike rack or bike storagefacility. (See, for example, FIG. 16). The app launched may use adifferent algorithm than is normally used to determine metrics includingbut not limited to calories burned, distance traveled, and elevationgained. The app may also be launched when a wireless bike sensor isdetected including but not limited to a wheel sensor, GPS, cadencesensor, or power meter. The device may then display and/or record datafrom the wireless bike sensor or bike sensors.

Additional apps include but are not limited to a programmable orcustomizable watch face, stop watch, music player controller (e.g., mp3player remote control), text message and/or email display or “notifier”,navigational compass, bicycle computer display (when communicating witha separate or integrated GPS device, wheel sensor, or power meter),weight lifting tracker, sit-up reps tracker, pull up reps tracker,resistance training form/workout tracker, golf swing analyzer, tennis(or other racquet sport) swing/serve analyzer, tennis game swingdetector, baseball swing analyzer, ball throw analyzer (e.g., football,baseball), organized sports activity intensity tracker (e.g., football,baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer), disk throw analyzer, foodbite detector, typing analyzer, tilt sensor, sleep quality tracker,alarm clock, stress meter, stress/relaxation biofeedback game (e.g.,potentially in combination with a mobile phone that provides auditoryand/or visual cues to train user breathing in relaxation exercises),teeth brushing tracker, eating rate tracker (e.g., to count or track therate and duration by which a utensil is brought to the mouth for foodintake), intoxication or suitability to drive a motor vehicle indicator(e.g., through heart rate, heart rate variability, galvanic skinresponse, gait analysis, puzzle solving, and the like), allergy tracker(e.g., using galvanic skin response, heart rate, skin temperature,pollen sensing and the like, possibly in combination with externalseasonal allergen tracking from, for instance, the internet; possiblydetermining the user's response to particular forms of allergen (e.g.,tree pollen) and alerting the user to the presence of such allergens(e.g., from seasonal information, pollen tracking databases, or localenvironmental sensors in the device or employed by the user)), fevertracker (e.g., measuring the risk, onset, or progress of a fever, cold,or other illness, possibly in combination with seasonal data, diseasedatabases, user location, and/or user provided feedback to assess thespread of a particular disease (e.g., flu) in relation to a user, andpossibly prescribing or suggesting the abstinence of work or activity inresponse), electronic games, caffeine affect tracker (e.g., monitoringthe physiologic response such as heart rate, heart rate variability,galvanic skin response, skin temperature, blood pressure, stress, sleep,and/or activity in either short term or long term response to the intakeor abstinence of coffee, tea, energy drinks and/or other caffeinatedbeverages), drug affect tracker (e.g., similar to the previouslymentioned caffeine tracker but in relation to other interventions,whether they be medical or lifestyle drugs such as alcohol, tobacco,etc.), endurance sport coach (e.g., recommending or prescribing theintensity, duration, or profile of a running/bicycling/swimming workout,or suggesting the abstinence or delay of a workout, in accordance with auser specified goal such as a marathon, triathlon, or custom goalutilizing data from, for instance, historical exercise activity (e.g.,distance run, pace), heart rate, heart rate variability,health/sickness/stress/fever state), weight and/or body composition,blood pressure, blood glucose, food intake or caloric balance tracker(e.g., notifying the user how many calories he may consume to maintainor achieve a weight), pedometer, and nail biting detector. In somecases, the apps may rely solely on the processing power and sensors ofthe invention. In other cases, the apps may fuse or merely displayinformation from an external device or set of external devices includingbut not limited to a heart rate strap, GPS distance tracker, bodycomposition scale, blood pressure monitor, blood glucose monitor, watch,smart watch, mobile communication device such as a smart phone ortablet, or server.

In one embodiment, the portable monitoring device may control a musicplayer on a secondary device. Aspects of the music player that may becontrolled include but are not limited to the volume, selection oftracks and/or playlists, skipping forward or backward, fast forwardingor rewinding of tracks, the tempo of the track, and the music playerequalizer. Control of the music player may be via user input orautomatic based on physiological, environmental, or contextual data. Forexample, a user may be able to select and play a track on their smartphone by selecting the track through a user interface on the device. Inanother example, the portable monitoring device may automatically choosean appropriate track based on the activity level of the user (theactivity level being calculated from device sensor data). This may beused to help motivate a user to maintain a certain activity level. Forexample, if a user goes on a run and wants to keep their heart rate in acertain range, the device may play an upbeat or higher tempo track iftheir heart rate is below the range which they are aiming for.

There are many inventions described and illustrated herein. Whilecertain embodiments, features, attributes and advantages of theinventions have been described and illustrated, it should be understoodthat many others, as well as different and/or similar embodiments,features, attributes and advantages of the present inventions, areapparent from the description and illustrations. As such, the aboveembodiments of the inventions are merely exemplary. They are notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the inventions to the preciseforms, techniques, materials and/or configurations disclosed. Manymodifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure.It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized andoperational changes may be made without departing from the scope of thepresent inventions. As such, the scope of the inventions is not limitedsolely to the description above because the description of the aboveembodiments has been presented for the purposes of illustration anddescription.

Importantly, the present inventions are neither limited to any singleaspect nor embodiment, nor to any combinations and/or permutations ofsuch aspects and/or embodiments. Moreover, each of the aspects of thepresent inventions, and/or embodiments thereof, may be employed alone orin combination with one or more of the other aspects and/or embodimentsthereof. For the sake of brevity, many of those permutations andcombinations will not be discussed and/or illustrated separately, indetail, herein.

The term “calculate” and other forms (i.e., calculating, calculated andcalculation) in the claims means, among other things, calculate,assesses, determine and/or estimate and other forms thereof. Inaddition, the term “light pipe” (or plural thereof) in the claims means,among other things, a light pipe, light conduit, light path or otherlight transmissive structure that preferentially directs or transmitslight along a predetermined path, for example, a path defined by thegeometry and/or material of the light pipe. Further, in the claims,“scattered” means, among other things, scattered and/or reflected.

Notably, the terms “first,” “second,” and the like, herein do not denoteany order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguishone element from another. Moreover, in the claims, the terms “a” and“an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denotethe presence of at least one of the referenced item.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable biometric monitoring devicecomprising: housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted tocouple to a limb of the user, the housing having: a back surface thatfaces the limb of the user when the portable biometric monitoring deviceis worn on the user's limb, and a protrusion that protrudes from theback surface, wherein the transition between the protrusion and the backsurface represents a discontinuity in the profile of the back surface;at least one band, coupled to the housing, to secure the portablebiometric monitoring device to the user's limb; a physiological sensor,disposed in the housing, to generate data which is representative of aphysiological condition of the user, the physiological sensor including:a first light source, disposed in the housing, to generate and outputlight having at least a first wavelength, and a photodetector, disposedin the housing, to detect scattered light; a first light pipe, disposedin the housing and optically coupled to the first light source, todirect or transmit light from the first light source along apredetermined path to an outer surface of the protrusion; and processingcircuitry, disposed in the housing, to calculate a heart rate of theuser using data which is representative of the scattered light.
 2. Theportable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the first lightpipe includes an optical filtering material to selectively transmitlight having the at least first wavelength.
 3. The portable biometricmonitoring device of claim 2, wherein the light having the at leastfirst wavelength is light corresponding to the green spectrum.
 4. Theportable biometric monitoring device of claim 2, wherein the lighthaving the at least first wavelength is light corresponding to theinfrared spectrum.
 5. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim1, wherein: the protrusion includes a window, the window includes afirst portion having first optical properties and a second portionhaving second optical properties different from the first opticalproperties, and the first light pipe is the first portion.
 6. Theportable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein: the housingincludes a window which provides an outer surface of the portablebiometric monitoring device and is configured to engage or contact theskin of the user, the window includes a first portion having firstoptical properties and a second portion having second optical propertiesdifferent from the first optical properties, and the first light pipe isdisposed in, or is a portion of, the first portion.
 7. The portablebiometric monitoring device of claim 6, wherein the second portion ofthe window is optically opaque to at least light having the at leastfirst wavelength.
 8. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim6, wherein the window is optically opaque to light in the visiblespectrum.
 9. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim 6,further including a second light pipe, disposed in the housing andoptically coupled to the photodetector, to direct or transmit light tothe photodetector along a predetermined path from the outer surface ofthe housing.
 10. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim 9,wherein the window further includes a third portion having third opticalproperties wherein the second light pipe is disposed in, or is a portionof, the third portion.
 11. The portable biometric monitoring device ofclaim 9, wherein the first portion of the window and the third portionof the window are spaced apart and separated by the second portion ofthe window.
 12. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim 1,wherein: the housing includes a window having a curved outer surface,the curved outer surface of the window forms part of the protrusion, andthe protrusion is configured to engage or contact the skin of the userwhen the portable biometric monitoring device is worn.
 13. The portablebiometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the housing includes aplurality of raised or depressed regions a surface of the portablebiometric monitoring device that engages or contacts the skin of theuser when the portable biometric monitoring device is worn.
 14. Theportable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the housingincludes a friction-enhancing material on a surface of the portablebiometric monitoring device that engages or contacts the skin of theuser when the portable biometric monitoring device is worn.
 15. Theportable biometric monitoring device of claim 1, wherein: the housingincludes a compliant portion located a surface of the portable biometricmonitoring device that engages or contacts the skin of the user when theportable biometric monitoring device is worn, and the compliant portionis configured to conform its shape to a shape of the user's limb towhich the portable biometric monitoring device is coupled or attachedduring operation.
 16. A portable biometric monitoring device comprising:a housing having a physical size and shape that is adapted to couple toa limb of the user, the housing having: a back surface that faces thelimb when the portable biometric monitoring device is worn on the user'slimb, and a protrusion portion that protrudes from the back surface,wherein: (i) the protrusion portion has a curved exterior surface thatintersects the back surface in a non-tangential manner, and (ii) theprotrusion portion is configured to engage or contact skin of the userwhen the portable biometric monitoring device is worn; at least oneband, coupled to the housing, to secure the portable biometricmonitoring device to the user; a physiological sensor, disposed in thehousing, to generate data which is representative of a physiologicalcondition of the user, the physiological sensor including: a first lightsource, disposed in the housing, to generate and output light having atleast a first wavelength, and a photodetector, disposed in the housing,to detect scattered light; a first light pipe, disposed in theprotrusion portion of the housing and optically coupled to the firstlight source, to direct or transmit light from the first light sourcealong a predetermined path to a location on the curved exterior surface;and processing circuitry, disposed in the housing, to calculate a heartrate of the user using data which is representative of the scatteredlight.
 17. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim 16,wherein: the protrusion portion of the housing includes a windowproviding at least a portion of the curved external surface, the windowincludes a first portion having first optical properties and a secondportion having second optical properties different from the firstoptical properties, and the first light pipe is disposed in or is aportion of the first portion.
 18. The portable biometric monitoringdevice of claim 17, wherein the second portion of the window isoptically opaque to at least light having the first wavelength.
 19. Theportable biometric monitoring device of claim 17, wherein the window isoptically opaque to light in the visible spectrum.
 20. The portablebiometric monitoring device of claim 16, further including a secondlight pipe, disposed in the protrusion portion of the housing andoptically coupled to the photodetector, to direct or transmit light tothe photodetector along a predetermined path from the curved exteriorsurface.
 21. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim 20,wherein: the window further includes a third portion having thirdoptical properties, and the second light pipe is disposed in or is aportion of, the third portion.
 22. The portable biometric monitoringdevice of claim 16, wherein: the protrusion portion of the housingincludes a plurality of raised or depressed regions on an interior orskin side of the device, and the interior or skin side of the device isconfigured to engage or contact the skin of the user when the portablebiometric monitoring device is worn.
 23. The portable biometricmonitoring device of claim 16, further including a gasket which isinterposed between the protrusion portion and the rest of the housingand is compressed by an end portion of the protrusion portion.
 24. Aportable biometric monitoring device comprising: a housing having aphysical size and shape that is adapted to couple to the body be worn ona limb of the user, the housing including a device body, a protrusionportion, and a gasket, wherein: the protrusion portion is configured toengage or contact the skin of the user when the portable biometricmonitoring device is worn, the gasket is interposed between theprotrusion portion and the device body, and the protrusion portion has acurved exterior surface that contacts the device body in anon-tangential manner; at least one band, coupled to the housing, tosecure the portable biometric monitoring device to the user; aphysiological sensor, disposed in the housing, to generate data which isrepresentative of a physiological condition of the user, thephysiological sensor including: a light source, disposed in the housing,to generate and output light having at least a first wavelength, and aphotodetector, disposed in the housing, to detect scattered light; andprocessing circuitry, disposed in the housing, to calculate a heart rateof the user using data which is representative of the scattered light,wherein: the protrusion portion includes a first portion having firstoptical properties and a second portion having second optical propertiesdifferent from the first optical properties, and the first portion ofthe protrusion portion is optically coupled to the light source so as todirect or transmit light from the light source along a predeterminedpath to the curved exterior surface.
 25. The portable biometricmonitoring device of claim 24, wherein the second portion of theprotrusion portion is optically opaque to at least light having thefirst wavelength.
 26. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim24, wherein the protrusion portion is optically opaque to light in thevisible spectrum.
 27. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim24, wherein the protrusion portion further includes a third portion,optically coupled to the photodetector, to direct or transmit light tothe photodetector along a predetermined path from an outer surface ofthe housing.
 28. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim 27,wherein the protrusion portion of the housing is attached to the devicebody via an adhesive and wherein the gasket and the adhesive provide aliquid-tight seal.
 29. The portable biometric monitoring device of claim24, wherein the device body includes a hard-coat paint, hard-coat dip,or anti-reflective optical coating disposed thereon.